Shattuck St. Mary’s Acceptance into USSF Development Academy Just One More Goal Accomplished
Tim Carter’s life work is coaching soccer. He has spent time as a USSF National Team staff coach and Director of Youth Development with US Soccer. He’s also worked with the Chicago Fire of MLS and the Minnesota Thunder and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the former USL’s A-League.
5 years ago Carter took the job of creating a soccer program at Shattuck St. Mary’s (SSM) in Faribault, Minnesota; a coeducational boarding school for grades 6-12 with over a 100 year history. The program has had a high degree of success in such a short amount of time. Carter started out with 34 student-athletes. That number has now risen to over 100. Shattuck was featured in ESPN’s Rise this past spring because SSM signs more soccer players to Division I colleges than any high school in the nation.
There are a lot of clubs out there that do a lot of good, but we go about things just a bit differently. We’re just a different cat.
Tim Carter
This past week, Carter brought his U-16 and U-19 teams to what some consider the most difficult tournament in the nation, the Dallas Cup. Carter’s U-16 team made it to the quarterfinals before losing and the SSM U-19 team made it all the way to the final but lost in the Championship.
Last Friday, US Soccer announced that the Minnesota Thunder Academy and Shattuck St. Mary’s are two of the four newest teams to enter into the prestigious and very important USSF Development Academy.
Carter was asked about the success the program has had in such a short time. “It’s pretty remarkable actually,” said Carter. “We have some wonderful facilities and we’ve had a commitment [from the school], but we also have an environment within the school itself that the culture allows athletes to pursue their passion in their sport on a daily basis. We have teams training right through the day. Where does that happen? So we have some very unique circumstances in our environment that you can’t find anywhere else.”
Carter says he was aware of the Development Academy before it began 4 years ago and feels the concept is correct and its birth was “evolutionary”.
“When I worked for US Soccer, there were a number of things we were trying to do under the project 2010 umbrella,” said Carter. “We were able to achieve some and not others. We tried to have a national scouting program — we tried to accredit clubs. So we were floating these concepts and often times meeting much resistance. The architects of the U-17 Development Academy (In Bradenton, FL) had seen some of the trials and challenges that had gone before it. But I think as much as anything it was just an evolutionary process, that along this journey that soccer development was going, something like this was inevitable to happen. The concept is simple: How do you help to improve the environment our youth soccer players in this country have. How do we make it an environment where they’re getting a better training environment but also how do we create a better game environment where there are fewer games and we don’t have multiple games in a day.”
“We were looking to stratify levels of soccer so you have more opportunities to play better teams. So this journey was just an evolutionary process to get to where we are today. And there are visions of where this will go over the next number of years. Its like the Olympic Development Program (ODP). ODP was the vehicle for years in which our more talented kids were identified and were brought in and given growth opportunities. It served our soccer culture for quite some time. But over time there were obviously changes needed. It wasn’t providing the environment at club level where players spend the vast majority of their time. I think that’s why you have this Development Academy concept to help improve the day-to-day life of the youth soccer player at club level.
USSF Development Academy is heading into its fourth season, and Carter says it’s been a goal of SSM’s to be part of the program since its inception.
“When the USSF DA was introduced with their goals and objectives in terms of creating a better environment for players to grow, it made too much sense for us not to want to be part of that,” said Carter. “I think from a competitive standpoint it’s going to help in the sense of providing the competition vehicle. The people that we are going to be playing against will be more similar to us. As opposed to the general youth soccer environment. What the Minnesota Thunder Academy is attempting to do is totally understandable. They are trying to create an environment where players of similar competitiveness and similar passion for the game are grouped together and that’s not only for training but for games.”
Carter says that he feels they have an advantage at SSM up and above many of the club teams in the Development Academy. “To be quite honest with you, before the USSF DA was announced, there were things in our program at Shattuck that were out in front of the Development Academy and still are,” Carter said. “If you just take the concept of time on task. We put more time on task on the development end than many clubs do that are in the development academy. The reason for that is our players are all in one location.”
When Carter was asked about the difference between the famous IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, that specialize in not only soccer but tennis, golf, baseball, basketball, football and lacrosse, he is quick to jump in. “You know Shattuck St. Mary’s has been around for over 150 years,” said Carter. “There’s a huge amount of experience in running the school itself with sports. You have a huge amount of experience in how to take care of young people, which is a big undertaking if you’re going to have youth living there, going to school and training. That’s a pretty unique asset that we have.”
“The other thing that you have in terms of our environment is the culture where the teachers who are within the school ‘get it’ in terms of these young athletes who are really passionate about their sport being able to embrace both academics and sport. While we’ve been down here at the Dallas Cup, we’ve been down here since last Thursday (over a week), our teachers understand where our students are. That doesn’t let them off the hook, but they understand that and it’s a big reason why the students come here. So we have similarities to IMG, but we have some distinct differences.
When asked about the academic standards at SSM, Carter replies, “Since I’ve been here, we’ve put kids into Harvard, Princeton and Notre Dame,” said a proud Carter. “Everyone knows about Teal [Bunbury] and Akron, but we’ve put both boys and girls at schools like UCLA who are starting as freshman. I think that speaks well for a relatively short history. Five years is really not a long time.”
“There are a lot of clubs out there that do a lot of good, but we go about things just a bit differently. We’re just a different cat.
Carter said there are logistics that the program will have to work out to become part of the USSF DA. “Until a few days ago we really didn’t know if we were in or out,” said Carter. “When we get back from Dallas we will put together a plan. There will be some logistics changes like our players will need to stay on campus through June maybe into July. We will look into these things and see what we need to do to pull this off.”
To read more on the history of the Shattuck soccer program please see this very informative article from the Faribault Daily News.
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Yeah, but I’m sure that they are about 2 to 3 hundred programs that are better than theirs. And that’s just in Minnesota!
*sigh*
Some people just can’t stand it.
Congrats to Shattuck St. Mary’s for being a great success, both academically and athletically.
Congratulations to SSM. I will cut to the chase and sum up the comments that are sure to follow:
“…yeah, but they only just made it to the final of the Dallas Cup at u19! They couldn’t win and because of that they are the worst program in the history of the universe!”
And
“…and what they don’t tell you is that the school is in Fairbault! Who would want to live in Fairbault when you can live in beautiful Eden Prairie or Brandeton? Jokes on them! They will never be able to get good enough players to compete! Hell, they couldn’t even win the Dallas Cup!”
Its good Minnesota (as a huge Minnesota homer I so wanted to say “we”) now has two programs in the USSF development academy.
Can anyone briefly describe the difference between ODP and the USSF DP?
Just a very brief and probably poor explanation:
The Olympic Development Program was originally set up to identify soccer talent under the watch of US Soccer that could play in the Olympics and on the Mens National Team and youth teams.
Tryouts are held and its sort of an all-star group of players that come together occasionally to practice and play games. In MN we have our ODP teams and then when the ODP teams from each state play each other in Regional play (region II) the top players are picked out for regional teams. From their national teams are picked. This was the system for a long time. Although the system is still good and works, there have been some flaws that I don’t think will ever totally be overcome.
One of those issues is that ODP is expensive and the trips are expensive. I remember reading something where Clint Dempsey used to go door to door in his home town of Nacogdoches, Texas, pounding on the doors of local business men asking for financial help to pay for his ODP trips and training.
I believe there are some rules within the Dev. Academy that a player cannot be turned down by a team because he can’t afford it. I think there is a lot of underwriting done on these teams.
The other issue is that often the scouting was limited to those playing state club soccer. Minorities were often missed in the search. This has gotten better in recent years but is still an issue.
Also, with ODP, the best players are taken. So you may have a bunch of kids who are very attacking players playing out of position because not everyone can be a forward or a midfielder.
With the Dev. Acad. you have teams playing together year round in their strongest position getting stronger all the time. Scouts also get to see these players playing in a position they know well, are comfortable with and players they are used to playing with. It makes a huge difference.
Players in the Dev. Ac. cannot play with ODP. The idea of the Dev. Academy, is more training, less games, higher quality games and rules that mimic international play. Youth players are not allowed to come in and out of the game like other youth leagues. This also improves coaching as coaches can’t throw six kids in there and have them run their asses off until they are exhausted and replace them with 6 more. That also increases the rhythm of the game.
Nike sponsors the USSF DA and Adidas the ODP system. To Adidas credit and ODP, they have made changes and Adidas has poured a lot more money into the program in recent years to bring the level up.
Neal,
ODP takes kids from clubs for occassional training and occassional competitions against other ODP teams from other states.
USSF Developmental Academy leaves kids in their club environment where they compete only against other DA teams in 90 minute games with limited substitutions. DA teams typically train 4+ times a week and play 30 games in a 9 month calendar year (they are given off for their high school seasons). There are some other things but thats the gist…
To expand:
Basically they are annointing the best clubs (they really are the best clubs- the screening process is arduous and full of rules about the management structure, coaching resource requirements, manadates for previous success at state cup and other competitive benchmarks) and then the best clubs play each other. Rather than have kids play 60 games a year with their club team- often times only 30 minute halfs with unlimited subs and 4-5 games a weekend at tournaments and training once a week and then occassionally going for a weekend with ODP they are keeping the best kids together to train hard and often and then occassionally play in extremely competitive games.
The DA also has a national scouting network. I believe a DA team is assessed 12-15 times a year (half their games) and there is also a coaching assessment/mentoring that goes on where the scouts also assess the coaches to help them grow.
There are specific rules about roster sizes and quotas for playing time.
They never play more than one game per day.
The USSF DA program also houses the MLS youth programs.
haha looks like you beat me to it Brian.
Your explanation is solid and I heard that about Dempsey as well.
The DA is still extremely expensive. So that hasn’t changed compared to ODP but at least the DA expenses wont be in addition to club expenses. Some clubs may be fortunate enough that they can bankroll kids and offer it at no cost- i.e. MLS youth programs (I believe by league mandate), the Sockers, Chicago Magic, etc. but smaller DA clubs like FC Milwaukee and probably MTA do or will charge big fees because at least half of your games will be on the road, and unless the realign things MTA and Shattuck can expect to make several trips to IL and CO. I also hear grumbles about days missed from school as teams travel for league games.
Reducing the cost is a big issue and something the DA is working on but sometimes it just comes down to geography. That is why Shattuck and MTA had to join the league together- so teams could travel to MN and play 2 games in a few days rather than just 1.
Quoting Brian,
“Youth players are not allowed to come in and out of the game like other youth leagues. This also improves coaching as coaches can’t throw six kids in there and have them run their asses off until they are exhausted and replace them with 6 more.”
I agree with this strategy to the extent that by the time a child reaches the Dev. Academy they already know what real training is and what dedication to the sport means. However for kids in regular club play, a lot of them will not have the dedication to sit the bench long enough just for a chance to train with the team.
I know this wasn’t your opinion Brian, just a fact of the rules as you understand them, but I felt like it should be stated to the “super” coaches out there that this shouldn’t be a norm for player development.
Oh ya! Totally agree and would think most others would as well. I think your statement “by the time a child reaches the Dev. Academy” is the key. And that’s a really good point made for ODP for younger ages. I believe U-12 is the youngest age a youth can participate in ODP. So you have 4 or 5 years there were ODP can still be important.
Great article, and your analysis of ODP is fairly accurate. However, to call it expensive, I would ask, compared to what? MTA? Other major clubs? Sending your kid to Shattuck? Face it, youth soccer is expensive. If you’re doing it to get your kid a college scholarship, save the money instead.
MN ODP has done a very good job of getting scholarship to the immigrant players- who have been a large share of the MN Regional Team players in recent years- without simply charging everyone else more. As far as Dempsey having to raise money for it, what activity DOESN’T a kid have to raise money for? My kid went on numerous ODP trips abroad. It was an incredible experience that he probably paid about 1/3 of the actual cost of.
MTA and Shattuck getting into the USSF Academy program is a super deal, but’s it’s still a small portion of the potentially elite players in MN. ODP still has a place in development.
Good point Tom. Expensive compared to what is very fair.
“ODP has done a very good job of getting scholarship to the immigrant players- who have been a large share of the MN Regional Team players in recent years”
While I’ve heard this is true, there was a long period of time where this was not necessarily true. Take a look at the guys on the US National Team up until about 5 years ago or so. I’ve even heard US Nat team players say as much. In general, white and privileged in many cases and when I say privileged that doesn’t mean rich. It means middle or upper middle class but still privileged because of the opportunities there were afforded. Getting Wilmer Cabrera in as the U-17 national coach was no accident. (I know, this is U-17 academy and not ODP) It was a move by US Soccer to extended its diversity in looking at players from the none traditional places where players have come from with US Soccer. I’m not sure how effective that has been but at least US Soccer is aware and working at this.
ODP was/is an early identification program. The problem was/is that if kids were identified at an early age (U13) they were probably going to make the pool every year they showed up. There was little turn over in the regional pools year to year. Thus many state players funded regional training and travel for a selected few. Challenges were ODP were mostly club related in MN. The state had a difficult time pulling the kids together and having them train as the CC DOC’s thought they were going to loose their players to a super team that might be formed. MYSA had to strike a balance. In summary ODP didn’t offer enough training with same level talented players. Your are spot on with missing minorities. Now, top players will be forced to leave their clubs and either play for MTA or SSM if they want regional/national exposure.
MTA was/is no more expensive than other clubs with similar training and travel plans. BHK, MPB, ARS and many others had large budgets. The most expensive boys team I ever heard of was the 88/89 Maplebrook team. I doubt coaching will be any better with the USSF DA. ODP and the formation of regional pools was/is rough with politics. MN parents are probably a bit happier as more kids have been making ODP regional pools over the past 2 or 3 years, but the DA kids from other region 2 states haven’t been in ODP.
Again, congrats to SSM and MTA, and to the new opportunities for MN boys.
BQ, it would be interesting to follow up with TC and find out if they will have a requirement that all of their players attend SSM.
Zlatan, have a co-worker whose was son was on the 88/89 MPB team and I have son playing for MTA. Sorry, MTA cost to the families is considerable higher. The MPB team did not have scholorship players and that may be the difference in the cost. Since I don’t know what the overall budget is for the team, all I can say is I would love MPB bill compared to mine.
1. Youth soccer is expensive.
2. WI has witnessed big changes in the ODP program now that the most elite WI kids are playing DA for FC Milwaukee of IL teams. Suddenly, kids from outside Madison and Milwaukee are getting opportunities to participate in ODP and that is helping raise the level in smaller, non traditional soccer power communities. I think you can expect something similar in MN with the advent of the DA teams.
Interesting thought. DA kids leave ODP program leaving holes to be filled. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in MN.